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Day 5: Holidays/Teasing
"Oh, this is going to be super fun!"
Maya was practically bouncing from foot to foot, a light gray apron tied around her waist with a cartoon version of the "Steel Samurai" on it. As always, she was wearing her spiritual training robes, her hair up in its know and her hair bobbles keeping the two strands of hair that were over her shoulders stable.
"Maya… do you even know how to cook a turkey?" Phoenix asked her. He was standing beside her in his apartment kitchen. He was also wearing an apron, a blue color with a cartoon picture of the "Signal Blue Samurai" from when he was a kid. He was surprised that Maya was able to find merchandise for that show still. Instead of wearing his traditional blue suit that he wore for court, he wore denim jeans and a long-sleeved navy-blue shirt.
The Spirit Medium waved her hand dismissively at him. "How hard can it be?" she said to him. She began to read the small, printed instructions on the plastic that was wrapped around the turkey. "I mean, it has all the instructions here!"
Phoenix gave a shrug. "Okay, makes sense to me," he relented. He never cooked a turkey himself either. As a kid, his mother and Soba Naruhodo always cooked - and to be fair, it was rare that they had turkey; instead, they would do traditional hot pot with duck and pork with soba noodles.
Happily, Maya began humming as she unwrapped the turkey from the plastic and put it the aluminum pan that was specifically bought for the occasion. When she dropped the bird in, it was such a heavy thud that Phoenix winced as he was preparing to chop onions and celery for stuffing, almost cutting his hand in the process.
"Uh… Maya…?" he asked her tentatively.
"Yeah?"
"Is that… frozen?"
"No, it's just heavy!"
"… Okay…"
As Phoenix continued working on the size dishes, in the corner of his eye, he saw Maya smother the turkey with butter. With a sigh of relief, he was glad there was a sale on butter due to the holiday.
Once Maya was done, she asked Phoenix to help put the turkey in the oven, so he did. He complained on how heavy it was and why did they need a turkey this large of a size when it was just the two of them. Maya just squealed in delight as the oven door closed and she set the timer.
"Do you realize this is the first time we are doing Thanksgiving together?" she asked him, her hands clasped together.
Phoenix rubbed his chin. "Huh… I guess it is… the last couple years were kinda hectic, so we didn't so it…" he admitted.
Maya beamed happily. "Aunt Morgan always made the food at home… and she never let me help." She then muttered under her breath, "Or barely eat any of it…"
"What was that, Maya?"
"Nothing!" Maya waved off. "Let's go watch some 'Steel Samurai' while we wait for dinner, okay?"
"Um… okay…"
The two sat on his couch in the living room, their aprons hung over the back, watching a marathon of the show. Every so often Maya would get up so she could baste the turkey and throw whatever sides that needed to be cooked either into the microwave or on the stovetop. There was a time though that Maya was away longer than Phoenix liked, which caused his brows to furrow worriedly.
"Everything okay, Maya…?" Phoenix called back towards the kitchen.
"Y-Yeah…!" she replied, her voice shaking. There was then a slight cough.
That was when Phoenix a thick, dark gray smoke coming from the kitchen. Immediately, he sprung up just in time for the smoke alarm to start blaring. Maya screamed in surprise and there was a loud crash. Once Phoenix got into the kitchen, Maya and turkey were on the ground, the oven door was open, smoke billowing out. Water was over boiling from a pot in the stove which was starting to drip over the sides.
Swiftly, Phoenix turned off the stovetop and the oven. The water ceased to boil and no longer threatened to spill over. He then closed the oven door and opened the nearby window that was near his pathetic excuse of a kitchen table, so the gray smoke had a way to escape. Phoenix promptly then helped Maya off the ground, observing her for any injuries now that the risk of a fire had been stopped, the smoke alarm ceasing its annoying blare.
"Maya, are you alright!?" he asked her worriedly.
"Nooooo," Maya nearly sobbed. "I'm not…"
Phoenix again tried to give her a look over, however, she shook her head. "No, I'm not hurt, Nick…" she told him.
Phoenix felt relived when she said that. "Then… why…?" he trailed off when he saw the turkey on the ground. The thing was a charcoal black, and it was still smoking. "Oh, what happened?" he asked her gently.
"When you asked if the turkey was frozen, and I said it wasn't…" Maya said to him. "I lied… It was frozen." She sheepishly looked up at him. "I thought if I increased the temperature, it would be okay…"
"We could've done the turkey another day," Phoenix insisted with a small shrug. "It's not a big deal…"
Maya put her hands to her eyes, trying to stop the dam of tears that were inevitably breaking through. "B-But…! This was supposed to be special!" she insisted with a choked sob. "I wanted to cook us a nice dinner, because I'm thankful for all that you do for me…! If it weren't for you, Nick, I don't know where I would be in my life right now! Jail? Prison?! Executed!? I don't know!" She was going into hysterics.
Phoenix then hugged her close to him, trying to soothe her. "Shh, it's alright…" he assured her. "Look, I know you're thankful… and I'm thankful for you too. Because, without you, I don't know where I would be in my life either."
Maya looked down glumly at the turkey. "Ugh… we put so much effort into this too…" she grumbled, her face then burying into Phoenix's chest.
For a moment the attorney pondered. "Hey… we can get Chinese from your favorite place," he offered with a smile. "I rather just sit and chill on the couch with you with some rice and dumplings to watch 'Steel Samurai' then deal with a whole 'traditional meal' anyways."
Maya tilted her head to the side. "You… You don't mind…?" she whimpered.
"Nah," he insisted. "I grew up doing duck hotpot with my family for Thanksgiving."
The Spirit Medium's eyes lit up. "OH!" she squealed. "Can we do that!?"
"Heh…?"
"The hotpot! Can we do that!?"
"… Sure, I think I still have that small pot my Soba gave me when I went to college…"
Indeed, Phoenix still had the hotpot that his grandmother gave him before heading to college. He managed to find miso broth in the cupboard and get it into the pot so it could start heating up - he had set up the pot on the kitchen table, so it was on a stable surface. Luckily there was still some leftover vegetables from when he was doing some sides, so head and Maya cut whatever remaining they had so they could add it the pot.
The turkey unfortunately was unsalvageable, but Phoenix did have some pork in the fridge; he made a mental note that for Christmas he should get duck and the proper ingredients like he had done as a kid. He thinly sliced it, Maya watching carefully with large eyes. Once the broth was at a rolling boil, Phoenix and Maya carried their small trays over to the table along with two bowls and a ladle. Carefully, Phoenix used his chopsticks expertly to get the pork into the broth while Maya put their veggies in.
Once everything was cooked, Maya ladled the hotpot mixture into Phoenix's bowl before giving herself her serving. They gave each other small smiles before sipping on the broth, Maya humming in satisfaction.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Maya," Phoenix said to her warmly.
Maya gave a large smile back. "Happy Thanksgiving, Phoenix," she returned.
The "Steel Samurai" played in the background as they ate their hotpot, the solid charcoal of turkey still laying on the ground in front of the oven.